Carrie Preston

With her bubbly persona and drive to perform, Carrie Preston has landed roles in everything from stage to the big screen to a starring role as Arlene Fowler, the redheaded sassy waitress in the Golden Globe nominated HBO series True Blood and a recurring part as the daffy but shrewd lawyer, Elsbeth Tascioni, on The Good Wife. Preston’s breakout Outer Critics Award nominated turn as Miranda in George C. Woolf’s Broadway production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest with Patrick Stewart, led to roles in major television series such as Lost and Desperate Housewives along with scene-stealing turnsin Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen; Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona; the Oscar-nominated Transamerica, playing Felicity Huffman’s sister; Alan Ball’s Towelhead opposite Aaron Eckhart, the Daisy 3 Pictures’ (her production company) film Ready? OK!, and the critically acclaimed independent film, That Evening Sun, with Hal Holbrook.

Carrie’s most recent directorial effort, That’s What She Said, starring Anne Heche, screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Phase 4 Films.

Born and raised in Macon, Georgia, where her mother was an artist and art therapist while her dad was a geo-technical engineer, a young Carrie Preston discovered her true calling in life lay in performing arts. At the age of 12, she became the impresario of her own front-yard theater company as producer, writer, casting director, costumer, director – and of course, actress. Preston later obtained a BFA from the University of Evansville followed with an acting diploma from the prestigious Juilliard School.

Carrie made an auspicious big screen debut as one of the two sexy, Southern bridesmaid sisters in the Julia Roberts’ blockbuster My Best Friend’s Wedding. A crucial role-playing Ophelia in Hamlet 15 years ago at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is where Carrie met her husband, Emmy Award winning Michael Emerson, who was playing Guildenstern in the production. Since then, the two have both starred in the movies Straight Jacket, Grace & Glorie, and The Journey. Keeping it in the family, Carrie played Michael’s mother in a flashback on his hit series Lost. Michael also had a role in the film 29th and Gay, which Preston produced and directed.

Carrie and Michael travel back and forth between Los Angeles and New York with their dog Chumley.